The symbolic beginning of the Polish path to independence during the First World War was the departure of the First Cadre Company of the Riflemen from Kraków. This was the first Polish military formation since the time of the January Uprising. After spending the night in the buildings of the garden theatre called Oleandry, on the day of the Austro-Hungarian declaration of war against Russia, August 6, 1914, a company of about 150 people set off toward from the nearby border with Russia in Michałowice, and then marched to Kielce. They were charged with a task to start an anti-Russian insurrection in the Congress Kingdom of Poland. The monumental Józef Piłsudski House was erected in Oleandry in the interwar period for the headquarters of the Polish Legionaries Association. Nowadays, it houses e.g. the Independence Activity Museum. Its collection boasts objects associated with famous Polish commanders, legionary memorabilia, exhibitions devoted to the Second World War, the political opposition of the Polish People’s Republic, and so on.

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